[3][4] The purpose of the organization was "to illustrate by printed matter and other useful means the harmfulness of the use of brännvin and other distilled spirits and to call attention to the importance of their elimination".
The ideas were brought to Sweden primarily by Robert Baird, an American Presbyterian preacher who made several lecture tours in Europe and spread knowledge on the issue of temperance.
[5] King Charles XIV John, who was concerned about the high consumption of alcohol in Sweden, supported the society by approving the bylaws on 5 May of the same year, barely a month after its founding.
[5] The society immediately contacted leading churchmen, such as Per Adolf Sondén [sv], Daniel Ehrenfried Gravallius [sv], Carl Fredrik af Wingård, Carl Adolph Agardh, Frans Michael Franzén, and Johan Henrik Thomander, and could easily counter accusations that the organization was connected with Methodism, unlawful in Sweden at the time due to the Conventicle Act.
[5] In 1880, a large temperance meeting was called in Jönköping to work against the 1878 liquor committee, which advocated a far-reaching liberalization of the legislation.
[1] The work of Sigfried Wieselgren, the organization's "undisputed tactician", "great ideologist", and leading figure of the Nya Centern party, particularly played a large role.
Traveling libraries were set up, lectures continued to be organized, and school cooking activities were carried out in rural areas.